Gloria Romero: Flawed teacher-dismissal bill merits veto by Brown

For awhile there was hope. But that hope evaporated in the waning hours of the just-completed legislative cycle when Democratic leaders beholden to the power and influence of the California Teachers Association quickly resurrected a defeated measure, Assembly Bill 375, and hastily sent it to the governor for his signature.

AB375 was introduced, ostensibly, to respond to the public clamor over the burdensome process school districts face in trying to fire teachers suspected of egregious offenses against children. After defeating similar legislation the prior year, CTA joined with Assembly Education Chairwoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, to push the significantly weaker AB375 in the wake of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Miramonte Elementary sex abuse scandal, still unfolding in the state’s largest school district.

The bill flew through the Assembly despite strong opposition from school districts and education reformers. Then the improbable happened: The Senate Education Committee refused to pass the bill. Opponents remained vigilant, understanding that shenanigans usually occur during the waning hours of a legislative session. Sure enough, Democratic legislative leaders eager to stay on the good side of CTA forced the bill out of committee with lightning speed and greased its path to the governor’s desk.

Now, parents and education reformers are working overtime to implore Gov. Jerry Brown, who has until Oct. 13 to act on pending legislation, to veto AB375. While the bill contains minor improvements, overall, it actually is worse than current law.

Ironically, while the hastily amended Buchanan-CTA bill claims to simplify and shorten a cumbersome, badly broken teacher-dismissal process, it exacerbates the problem and makes it harder for districts to protect children.

Wesley Smith, Executive Director of the Association of California School Administrators, stated that “the problems created for school districts far outweigh any modest improvements contained in the bill. Because of… [its] timelines and procedural barriers … it may compel school districts to pay a teacher to leave for immoral or unprofessional conduct rather than move to dismissal. This protects the adults over our students’ safety.”

The maneuvering by Democratic leaders seeking to look out for the CTA rather than protecting children from sexual predators in the classroom should outrage every Californian. Not surprisingly, the bill accomplishes exactly what CTA set out to do when its lobbyists ghostwrote it: Protect union members at the expense of kids.

There are numerous problems with the bill, which:

• arbitrarily limits the number of children who can testify about a case of alleged abuse;

• prohibits a school district from amending a complaint. Victims, particularly kids, often do not step forward until it is “safe” to do so. AB375 plays on this by prohibiting the introduction of additional relevant testimony once the process has started. This could force districts to choose either to throw out their case and start over – running up costs in the process – or simply try to pay the accused predator to resign;

• includes another appeal process procedural layer to challenge immediate teacher suspensions on technicalities – a consideration never previously available, beyond the courts, for allegations of heinous behavior with a child;

• maintains a fixed timeline for concluding any case – incentivizing the accused to delay. Tucked into the CTA bill is a new standard that hearing officers would have to reach to allow additional time.

AB375 demonstrates the influence of power and money on legislators more intent on satisfying the powerful rather than protecting innocent children. Gov. Jerry Brown has until Oct. 13 to act on legislation before him. This bill deserves a veto.

Register opinion columnist Gloria Romero is an education reformer and former Democratic state senator from Los Angeles. Twitter: @DFER_CA

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